Picken was the leading authority on medieval Cornwall. Of great interest to all concerned with Cornish topography, history and genealogy, this volume gathers together 15 of his most important essays and papers with a range of periods and topics, including the early Church and Cornish saints, the Saxon Conquest, Domesday Book and the Norman administration. In the old tradition of scholar-parson, he was rector of St Martin by Looe, but he also spent 60 years investigating Cornish local and family history.